Best performing Vario?

I'm also surprised that your experience with SYM (See You Mobile for
those of you lacking the coded language) you find troubling to exit
the thermal assist function. All you do is tap the screen one time,
that's it!

Last weekend, I found myself at pattern altitude, ready to landout,
and then stumbled into a 0.3 knot thermal which I probably wouldn't
have been able to center if it weren't for having the thermal assist
function in SYM. That saved the day as it brought me up to final
glide, 26 miles from home. I was 10 seconds from dropping the gear
and committing to a land out. One wrong turn out of the thermal and I
was dropping the gear, so this function proved its effectiveness to
me.

I posted about this on the Naviter forums but never got a response from anyone but myself on the subject. For some reason on my Oudie I can not turn on the thermal assistant. I can change the setting from "Never" to any of the other criteria but when I click OK and navigate back to the setup page it is back to "Never". I just took this as a sign that I need to be able to center lift without the oudie's help but it would be nice to give it a try. Any ideas?

On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:46:59 PM UTC-7, Scott Alexander wrote:
I'm also surprised that your experience with SYM (See You Mobile for

those of you lacking the coded language) you find troubling to exit

the thermal assist function. All you do is tap the screen one time,

that's it!


All you do to exit (or enter) the thermal assistant function in Winpilot is ...nothing at all. It does it automatically, at the right moment, without user intervention. I submit that this is an improvement (added to the other improvements already mentioned above).

I'm not saying the SYM thermal assistant is useless. Just that there are better implementations. SYM in general is very verbose (and a little disorganized) in its user interface, compared to other available products. You are endlessly tapping the screen for this or other functions. For example to add a turnpoint, it is a minimum of 9 screen taps on SYM vs. about 4 on Winpilot, and just one on iGlide. Every screen tap is another second with my eyes on the panel and not outside. SYM has a great feature set, but it certainly is not a good example of man-machine interface.

some settings may not function unless the unit is restarted after making the
changes to specific settings
make sure after changing any settings that when you shut down you check the
box to "save new profile"
tim
Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com

"Tony" wrote in message
...
I posted about this on the Naviter forums but never got a response from
anyone but myself on the subject. For some reason on my Oudie I can not turn
on the thermal assistant. I can change the setting from "Never" to any of
the other criteria but when I click OK and navigate back to the setup page
it is back to "Never". I just took this as a sign that I need to be able to
center lift without the oudie's help but it would be nice to give it a try.
Any ideas?

On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:46:59 PM UTC-7, Scott Alexander wrote:
I'm also surprised that your experience with SYM (See You Mobile for those of you lacking the coded language) you find troubling to exit the thermal assist function. All you do is tap the screen one time, that's it! Last weekend, I found myself at pattern altitude, ready to landout, and then stumbled into a 0.3 knot thermal which I probably wouldn't have been able to center if it weren't for having the thermal assist function in SYM. That saved the day as it brought me up to final glide, 26 miles from home. I was 10 seconds from dropping the gear and committing to a land out. One wrong turn out of the thermal and I was dropping the gear, so this function proved its effectiveness to me.

Scott. I don't think anyone labels SYM's thermal assist useless it's just WinPilot's is far more advanced. I have used both and now XCSoar and neither is as relyable as WinPilot's climb maximizer.
I
The matter of fact like someone else mentioned earlier SYM seems a bit over cluttered.
So fay I'm most impressed by XCSoar, I wish they just knock off WinPilot's climb maximizer and they will have a tru winner

we are talking about http://www.winpilot.com/images4/PRO_1.gif right?

actually the xcsoar representation is quite similar, only that the climb values are not drawn in a 3D way, but using a polar diagram. The arrow that WinPilot shows is also available in XCSoar, just not as emphasized and it will get larger once the suggestion to recenter gets stronger. could you elaborate on what exactly you think is better in the WinPilot representation?

On Friday, September 28, 2012 2:22:46 AM UTC-7, Tobias Bieniek wrote:
we are talking about http://www.winpilot.com/images4/PRO_1.gif right? actually the xcsoar representation is quite similar, only that the climb values are not drawn in a 3D way, but using a polar diagram. The arrow that WinPilot shows is also available in XCSoar, just not as emphasized and it will get larger once the suggestion to recenter gets stronger. could you elaborate on what exactly you think is better in the WinPilot representation?

It is the arrow that makes it accurate and easy to use- more visual. It simply gets shorter as one gets closer to the core and when it just becomes a dot you are at the core.
I'm very impressed with XCSoar but I'm not aware of the arrow like WinPilot or even SYM ?? XCSoar's Thermal Assist works good but when I use it one has to look -head down-rather than just to "refer" to the arrow at a glance keeping heads out of the cockpit. My 5 C worth. 6PK

you can see the current implementation of XCSoar at http://bugs.xcsoar.org/raw-attachmen...51197415_n.jpg

if you look close, you notice a blue line originating from the center of the thermal assistant. the other end of the line marks the point of the proposed thermal core and shows you the direction in which you would need to recenter. from what you've mentioned in the previous posting I understand that this indicator needs to be larger and possibly in an arrow-like form, correct?!

there is also an alternative implementation proposed that looks like this: http://bugs.xcsoar.org/raw-attachmen...lassistant.png
feel free to comment on that one too. we are always open to suggestions and constructive criticism.

On 9/28/2012 2:22 AM, Tobias Bieniek wrote:
we are talking about http://www.winpilot.com/images4/PRO_1.gif
right?

actually the xcsoar representation is quite similar, only that the
climb values are not drawn in a 3D way, but using a polar diagram.
The arrow that WinPilot shows is also available in XCSoar, just not
as emphasized and it will get larger once the suggestion to recenter
gets stronger. could you elaborate on what exactly you think is
better in the WinPilot representation?

SeeYou Mobile uses circles of differing size and color around the
thermal circle to show the thermal strength. It also has an arrow
suggesting the direction to move, and an audio alert when you should
level your wings to move the circle. The circles and arrow can be
assessed in a glance, or the audio alone can be used to avoid even the
need for a glance, all of which seem at least as useful as Winpilot's
depiction.

Mobile doesn't have the chart of lift versus time. How is this useful?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On Tuesday, September 25, 2012 8:34:11 AM UTC-6, Tim Mara wrote:
Unfortunately, this question will not be fairly answered as to "which vario

is best" in this forum. What you are going to get is a lot of opinions based

only on what variometers the responders have actually used and possibly what

variometer they used that "they" liked better of the few systems they may

have actually had a chance to use. Few is anyone here will have had an

opportunity to realistically flown with or more over tested in any side by

side comparison all of the most common types, also most will have used

variometers in conjunction with other systems connected to or compared with

what was in place at the time they may have flown with that system.

Clearly variometer technology has changed over the years from the first

pellet variometers to modern pressure transducer and GPS coupled systems.

Many manufacturers today can produce good variometers with very common

electronic parts and devices, added features and connectability to extended

devices will normally be the determining factors in what systems the user

chooses along with a proven history of reliability and support.

tim

Please visit the Wings & Wheels website at www.wingsandwheels.com





"Craig R." wrote in message

...

In your opinion, what was the best performing vario you have ever used?

Specifically, the one that got you centered in and to the top of the

thermal in the least amount of time.



Let's ignore products because they have the latest "bells and whistles"

add ons, latest technology, sexy appearances, or best computer processor.

Basic performance is the only criteria.



I've heard some say the legacy Cambridge units and some say the Sage

mechanical.



Which unit did it for you?

I have used the V7 this season and have really liked it and love the user interface. I am halfway done installing the Butterfly Vario right next to the V7 so we can all see the differences. I plan on doing a video of the two units in action as soon as I can finish the install. Due to limited time to get out and fly this may take another month or two but it will happen this year.

Thanks,
Bruno - B4